Crash and Burn
by LadyWallace
Summary: (Tag to 13x20) Gabriel may have overestimated his powers in his fight with Loki. With the untended injuries and remembered trauma, Gabriel crashes hard. Luckily Sam knows something about both of those things.


**This was a request fill for vrskaandrea who wanted hurt Gabriel and protective Sam. Not sure this is what you were looking for, but hope you like it. :)**

Crash and Burn

A Supernatural Fanfic

He made it back to the hotel. At least he could say that. He didn't faint like a Disney princess after the fight or even in the car. No, it was when he tried to stand up again that his vessel just decided it was going to go kaput.

Gabriel seemed to have overestimated his reserve of energy—which, at this point was, frankly, pretty much nonexistent if he were being honest. He'd gotten pretty bashed up in his fight with Loki and on top of that, the wounds he'd gotten in his fight with Fenrir hadn't exactly healed. In fact, they had started bleeding again pretty profusely as they left the penthouse to clean up the bodies, before heading back to the Winchester's hotel so they could pack their stuff.

"We'll grab our crap and then head back to the bunker, see what we can do about getting everyone out of apocalypse world," Dean said.

Gabriel grunted in acceptance, though at this point he wasn't at all feeling enthusiastic about helping out. He was already feeling woozy as he slid into the back seat and he didn't count on feeling a lot better by the time they got back to the bunker unsless he got a good nap. And yeah, he probably wasn't going to mention to Thing One that he had bled on the leather upholstery. He'd already suffered enough.

He genuinely _thought_ he would be able to stick it out until they got back to the bunker where he could snatch a few Zs, but that wasn't in the cards apparently.

As soon as they pulled up at the hotel, he had started to climb out of the car only to feel incredibly dizzy. It felt like when Asmodeus had taken too much of his grace, and for a moment, he was right back there, in that cage, suffering constant torment at the hands of the Prince of Hell.

"Whoa, hey, are you all right?"

Gabriel suddenly realized that he was being propped against something. Something tall and flannel coated. Sam Winchester. He sucked in a breath and tried to lift his head, embarrassed, but all he could feel was blood dripping down his side.

"What the hell, now?" Dean's voice demanded as if from far away.

"M'good, jus' need a minute," Gabriel muttered, still unable to lift his face from Sam's plaid shirt.

Sam huffed and adjusted him, looping an arm around his chest and heaving him upright. "Yeah, you're hurt pretty bad."

"Said I'm fine—gah!" Gabriel hissed as he tried to pull away from Sam, only to have his leg nearly collapse under him and take him to the ground.

"Okay, we need to take care of that before we leave," Sam said firmly.

"Sam, slap a bandage on it and load him into the car. He'll be fine."

Gabriel wanted to say something in retort, but all he managed to do was weakly flip Dean off.

"Dean, I don't think a band-aid is going to help him right now. And seriously, we do need him to help us, you know, the least we can do is tend his wounds properly."

Dean muttered under his breath. "We don't have time for this. And he's the one who got himself into this mess."

"Dean, come on. One more night here. That's all. We'll all feel better if we start out in the morning with some sleep."

Dean cursed again. "Fine!" he finally said. "Get him up to the room, I'll go pay for another night."

Sam sighed and tried to find a position to support Gabriel without hurting him. "Come on, can you make it?"

"Elevator?" Gabriel suggested.

They went over to it, thankfully no one was around, and made their way up to the room. Sam instantly dragged Gabriel over to the closest bed and deposited him onto it.

Gabriel lay back and would have been happy to just sleep this off when Sam came over to him with a metal tin. "Come on, let's take a look."

"You know anything about doctoring archangels?" Gabriel asked with a raised eyebrow. Kind of stalling.

"I've patched Cas up a few times, though he's usually pretty stubborn."

"Yeah, he is," Gabriel murmured, shaking his head slightly. "It's mainly just the old wound. Opened again. With hardly any grace it's gonna probably take a few days to heal."

"Stitches then," Sam said and Gabriel's eyes blew open.

"Are you kidding me?" He demanded, trying to prop himself up on his elbows before he grunted and was forced to lay flat again.

"Yeah, especially since you're bleeding this much," Sam told him and peeled Gabriel's shirt up before taking off the old bandage that had been soaked through, pulling a face.

"Yeah, this looks pretty bad. You've lost a lot of blood."

Gabriel grunted and flinched as the door opened and Dean stalked in.

"Okay, room's paid another night," he muttered grumpily.

"Thanks, Dean." Sam said.

Dean stepped over to the bed and made a face at the sight of Gabriel's wound. "Okay, I guess that does look pretty bad."

"Yeah, thanks for noticing," Gabriel said and closed his eyes wearily. "You gonna get this over with or what, Samsquatch?"

Sam pressed his lips together and dug into the box to grab the suture kit. Gabriel stared up at the ceiling, not wanting to watch. He hated needles, especially now. Especially considering the last experience he had with them was when Asmodeus had decided it was a good idea to sew his mouth shut…

He flinched when the needle entered his flesh, and Sam's hand pressed down on his hip to steady him. "Stay still."

Gabriel tried to as much as he could, but it was hard. No one had tended his wounds in a long time. He wasn't used to things hurting toward a better goal than just torture.

There was a lot of area to cover so it took a while, but by the time it was done, Gabriel was nearly unconscious. Sam taped a fresh bandage over the wounds.

"There, that should be a little better now, help it heal quicker. You should just get some rest."

"Whasit look like I'm doin'?" Gabriel slurred, eyes already shut.

Dean sighed. "Guess I'm taking the couch."

* * *

_Sam lay on his bed_, drowsy, but having trouble sleeping. There was just too much going on. And he worried that with Gabriel so low on power he wouldn't be able to help them open the rift. After all, if he was barely even healing, then his grace had to be pretty low. And if Gabriel couldn't help them, then they were back at square one.

A whimper brought him back to full awareness. He sat up, hearing the rustling of sheets, and a low moan.

He glanced at Gabriel and saw the archangel tossing on the bed. Sam frowned and got up, hoping he wasn't going to pop his stitches.

"Gabriel," he murmured, reaching out cautiously to touch his shoulder.

Gabriel came awake with a start and a cry.

"Whatisit?" Dean demanded, sitting up on the couch, half asleep but with a gun pointed dead steady.

"Easy, Dean," Sam said, holding up a hand before turning back toward Gabriel who was propped on his elbows, panting. Sam hurriedly turned on the lamp and the archangel winced at the sudden light.

"Hey, you good?" Sam asked as he saw Dean shake his head and lay back down with his arm over his eyes.

Gabriel sighed and slumped back with a wince. "Yeah, sleeping isn't really my thing."

Sam sat at the foot of the bed and leaned his elbows on his knees. "I get it. After going through long captivity like that…torture…it's not easy to get back out there and live a normal life again."

"Mm, yeah, not really one for talking about my feelings, Samerella," Gabriel said, but half-heartedly.

Sam smirked. "Yeah, you and Dean both. But we all get it, so don't feel bad."

"Even if I may not be able to help you like you expect me to?" Gabriel asked hesitantly.

Sam shrugged. "Look, just do what you can. It is what it is. If one thing doesn't work, we'll just try another, that's what we always do. We've gotten pretty good at that."

Gabriel was silent for a while, then nodded. "Then I guess I can try my best too," he said.

Sam smiled and patted the bed. "Sounds good. You okay to sleep now, you think?"

"Sure I am," Gabriel said.

Sam got up and returned to his own bed. He didn't turn the lamp off though, and Gabriel didn't mention it. Sometimes it just helped to sleep with the light on.


End file.
